Letters: Up in arms over veterans scandal incompetence

YORBA LINDA, James Crossan, M.D.: The Register’s front-page coverage of the Department of Veterans Affairs scandal can’t help but incense all of us who truly love this country. I am a

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Vietnam War veteran and also a retired doctor who did part of his training at the Long Beach VA hospital. I continue to read and hear about waiting times that frequently exceed 90 days. A recent article the Register published said that there is only one neurologist on staff at the Long Beach VA [“California veterans in retreat from VA,” Front page, May 24]. This implies there is a significant shortage of doctors within the VA hospital system and suggests a significant fund shortage for bringing more physicians on staff to all of our VA hospitals.

My second concern was voiced by letter-writer Michael A. Pacer, who pointed out that, “The Obama administration treats illegal immigrants with more concern than our returning veterans” [“Declare war on veterans affairs negligence,” May 24]. We also spend too much on foreign aid to countries that give nothing in return.

It is time we reconsider our priorities by taking care of our veterans who have given us their all.

An outrage and disgrace

MISSION VIEJO, Byron Barbour: The same administration that orders our veterans into battle has let them down in a disgraceful and unacceptable way. Soldiers are dying at home because they can’t get proper medical care in VA hospitals. Unclaimed soldiers’ bodies laid in the Los Angeles County morgue for a year because they forgot them. What kind of a government treats its warriors like this? It’s time the so-called commander and chief of our military fixes his broken administration from top to bottom.

I’m sure this situation will be blamed on budget cuts and a dozen other lame excuses. But there is no excuse for treating our kids, who have fought for us, like this. What a disgrace this administration is. We should all be outraged.

‘Separate-but-equal’ health care must end

SEAL BEACH, Anne Walshe: Do we need a veteran’s health care system? The simple answer is “no.” The sensationalism surrounding stories about delays in veteran’s care is misleading. The focus of our attention should be on the system itself.

“Separate, but equal” in education didn’t work. We were good at separate, but not so good at equal. For decades we have tried to have “separate-but-equal” health care for our veterans; it will never be successful for many of the same reasons that the concept failed in education. We would better serve our veterans if we incorporate their care into our existing institutions.

California has one of the best health care delivery systems in the country. Take Kaiser Permanente as an example. Is it perfect? No. But it is one of the best.

Don’t our veterans deserve the best?

Divorce is no cause for celebration

COSTA MESA, Jim Golding: With the accelerating decline of American culture, celebrating things once shameful or stigmatized is now hip [“Divorce parties take the cake,” News, May 29]. Perhaps we should have celebratory wakes for aborted children.

The cult of self-worship in America is sacrificing our children on the “progressive” altars of convenience, personal growth and personal rights. The consequences, though visible, betray the severity of the coming harvest.

Yet almost every divorce is preventable or unnecessary. Rather than hating divorce as God says He does, we are a nation that, if not outright celebrating it, then ignores its dire consequences.

Astounding inefficiencies

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Betsi Gunnerson: The White House might as well have tattooed a bulls-eye on the forehead of the CIA’s top officer in Kabul when it leaked a list including his name to the news organizations covering the president’s Afghanistan trip.

There is no excuse for the inefficiency and lack of detail emanating from the White House.

We are still reeling from the mess created by Obamacare, the IRS targeting of conservatives, Benghazi and the VA scandal.

All these disasters point to a lack of firm, organized management at the top of leadership.

The CIA head in Afghanistan will have to redirect his entire career because of the blundering of people at the White House. It’s an avoidable shame.

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